Swindon College is another victim among educational institutions

It recently came to light that malefactors have broken into the personal and bank details of students and staff of Swindon College. According to a statement from the college, the breach took place a week ago. The hack impacted the information of past and present students and staff, still the exact number of victims is unknown.

As a result of the attack, Swindon College’s phone lines were unavailable. Also, the official website of the college was defaced and updated with the college’s logo and a following message: “Important announcement for staff, former staff, current and former students and apprentices. Data breach – immediate action.”

In the official statement, the college said: “Swindon College’s network system has been subject to a targeted cyberattack this week that has resulted in unauthorised access to personal data”.

The college officials that all the affected will be contacted by the college officials. A spokesperson for Wiltshire Police commented the incident that the crime was reported on 12 September, and “enquiries are currently ongoing”.

“Swindon College has reported an incident to us and we will assess the information provided,” said an ICO spokesperson.

Phillip Capital Inc is to pay $1.5 million after a data breach

According to the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a futures brokerage from Chicago is obliged to pay a total of $1.5 million for allowing cyber criminals to perform an attack on the company’s email systems and get away with $1 million withdrawn from a customer’s account. Phillip Capital Inc (PCI) did not give any comments on the CFTC’s conclusions. The case originates from a phishing attack that took place February 2018 and proves the vulnerability of firms from the financial sector. The attack was performed as PCI’s information technology engineer received an email from a hacked account and sent login details to the malefactors in response. The case clearly demonstrates how fails in responding to a cyber incident can lead to trouble with regulators.

PCI failed with U.S. regulations also by not disclosing the details of the attack to customers, the CFTC said. The penalty sums up to $1 million in restitution to the customer affected by the cyberattack and a $500,000 penalty.

Andrei Tyurin pleads guilty four years after the attack

A Russian hacker will plead guilty later this month for the organization of an alleged scheme to steal financial data on more than 80 million JP Morgan Chase & Co. clients. Andrei Tyurin was extradited from the Republic of Georgia last year. Now he is accused of performing actions aiming to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from JPMorgan and other companies. A plea hearing will take place next week as Tyurin has struck a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in New York to resolve the charges.

The volume of the cyber incident was so vast that U.S. authorities believed that the attack has been performed by state-sponsored hackers, possibly with ties to Russia’s intelligence agencies. Then, it was ultimately concluded that the attack was executed by a broad criminal enterprise, with the purloined funds fueling other schemes including stock manipulation, online gambling and money laundering. Tyurin and other co-defendants were charged back in 2015. Tyurin was at liberty for years while his accomplice were placed under arrest until Tyurin’s capture in Georgia.

The leader of the operation, Gery Shalon, also was arrested in Tel Aviv in 2015 and extradited to the U.S. His court process hasn’t been terminated, and it is believed that Tyurin has been cooperating with U.S. authorities.

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